Out of Hiding
by Eaglesgirl
Summary: Ten years after Voldemort's death, those responsible for his downfall are finally released from hiding. Not HBP or DH compatible. Angst in later chapters


So, this evil story has been stuck in my head for forever and I'll never be able to update another fanfiction again if I don't get it out.

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_Ten years after Voldemort's death, those responsible for his downfall are finally released from hiding.

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**Chapter 1**

**Old Friends**

"I can't believe it, after all these years." Harry said.

"I know. Everyone's finally coming out of hiding. I can't wait to see Hermione." Ginny said. Ron nodded.

"Hurry up Rosie. I want to show you my old common room." Ron told his daughter as she skipped down the hall between him and his wife Lavender.

It was a reunion. The war had ended ten years ago that day, and many people still in hiding were finally able to come out. Almost all the Death Eaters were now in prison, and the ones still on the loose were few and unimportant.

Harry had been in hiding with Ginny, Ron, and Lavender. He and Ginny had been married for almost ten years while Ron and Lavender had been for just over eight. Hermione had gone into hiding about a month before they had and they hadn't heard from or seen her for ten years.

Ron and Lavender had their daughter Rose a month before Ginny gave birth to James. Both children were seven. Ginny had Lily two years later, and the Potters' youngest child was one-year-old Albus.

The eight gained admittance into the Gryffindor common room with the password that Dumbledore had provided them with (Padfoot).

Harry and Ron went up to their old dormitory to claim it for their families. There were six beds in the room. Harry and Ron each pushed two together to share with their wives. Rose and Lily would share one of the remaining beds while James had the other. Harry conjured a bassinet for Albus next to his and Ginny's bed.

Then it was off to lunch in the Great Hall.

* * *

The group sat down at the rather full Gryffindor table. It included a much older and calmer Dennis Creevey trying to keep a toddler quiet.

The Ravenclaw table included Luna Lovegood who seemed to be by herself, but she was still smiling happily into space.

Hufflepuff had quite a few familiar faces including Hannah Abbot and Susan Bones, who was sitting next to Justin Finch-Fletchley.

Surprisingly, the Slytherin table had quite a few people as well. Pansy Parkinson, it seemed, had married a former Ravenclaw two years ahead of them. Blaise Zabini was sitting next to a pretty blonde witch that Harry recognized as a girl from Hufflepuff who was three years behind them.

A group of three walked into the Great Hall, unnoticed by Harry and company. The woman pointed excitedly and pulled her husband and son toward the group.

"Hello Harry, Ron. How have you been?"

Harry looked up to see Remus Lupin along with his wife and son.

"Happy to be free again, you?" Harry responded.

"The same. We've been living in muggle London ever since we went into hiding." Tonks said.

"We were in Russia, just outside St. Petersburg." Ginny said. "Luckily we were able to find a spell that translated for us.

"Wasn't Hermione with you?" Lupin asked.

"No. She went into hiding about a month before we did." Ginny said. "Dumbledore said that she's coming out. She'll be here for the party tonight."

"I'll be glad to see her." Tonks said. "Ten years is too long not to see people."

* * *

A few hours later, Harry, Ginny, Ron, and Lavender were in their former Charms room to drop off their children. After an hour, the children would join their parents at the party, but Dumbledore had decided to give the adults some time alone. Professor Flitwick was standing in the middle of the room when they arrived talking to a girl about James and Lily's age.

Flitwick spotted them and hurried over with the little girl close on his heals.

"Mr. Potter!" He said taking Harry's hand and shaking it. "And Mrs. Potter." He said taking Ginny's hand. He did the same to Ron and Lavender. Harry introduced the four children.

"Ah, how lovely. I was just helping little Cassie hear find someone to play with." Flitwick said.

Cassie had blonde, wavy hair with dark eyes and a sweet face. She was smiling broadly and was already chattering with Rose and James about flying on broomsticks. She was saying that she had only been on her first ride that morning. The three quickly drifted off. Lily found a girl who looked suspiciously like Luna and they began to plan with the dolls that had each brought with them.

Harry, happy to see his children so social, took his wife's hand and led her to the Great Hall.

* * *

Lavender quickly found Parvati and the two disappeared into the crowd. Harry, Ginny, and Ron walked around greeting old friends and finding members of the Weasley family.

As they neared Dean Thomas, after almost a hour of wandering, they spotted a very familiar head of bushy hair. Ginny was the first to break into a run followed by Harry, then Ron.

"Hermione!" Ginny called.

The bushy head turned around to reveal a very happy Hermione. "Ginny! Harry! Ron!"

The three took turns hugging her. When Ron had at last let go of Hermione, Ginny poked at Hermione's stomach. "You're pregnant." She stated.

"Yes. Five months tomorrow." Hermione said. She was beaming. "Do you have any children?" She asked her friends. Ginny excitedly pulled out a moving picture she had brought for Hermione.

"We took this last week." Ginny said handing it to her friend. "The one on the left is James. Lily is on the right. James is holding Albus."

"I have a picture of Rose for you, but Lavender's run off with it." Ron said scanning the crowd for his wife. "She'll turn up again eventually." He said shrugging.

"Do you have any other children?" Harry asked.

"Yes, but I think they're coming in now." Hermione said as she moved toward the door where kids were crowded together looking for their parents.

James, Rose, and Lily snaked through the crowd holding hands, while James carried his sleeping baby brother.

Ginny took Albus and herded the children to a table to sit down. Hermione soon came through with a little girl on either hand.

She sat down at the table and helped the younger of the girls up onto the bench before addressing her friends. "This," she said pointing to the older one, "is Cassie."

"We've met." Harry said smiling. Rose climbed over her uncle's lap to sit next to her new friend.

"She ran off with Rose and James when we dropped the off earlier." Ginny explained. "How old is she?"

"She just turned eight last month. The little one is Sage. She's four." Hermione said.

Sage ducked her head and scooted closer to her mother. Her eyes were blue and she had brown hair, just a shade lighter than Hermione's. Her hair was completely in ringlets.

"She's rather shy." Hermione said as she wrapped an arm around her daughter.

Ginny saw Hermione's wedding ring. "Did you get married while you were in hiding too?" She asked.

"Yes." Hermione said. "Cassie, would you go get your father for me?"

Cassie nodded and pulled Rose along with her heading toward the center of the room.

"So, which one is the bookworm?" Ron asked.

"Sage is. She can't read yet, but she does love her picture books. She makes her father and I read to her every night too." Hermione said. "She rather likes the muggle books. We lived around the corner from a bookstore while we were in hiding. We went at least once a week."

"Where did you live?" Harry asked.

"We were just outside of Inverness." Hermione said.

"What was your favourite story?" Ginny asked.

Sage cuddled closer to Hermione. "Go on. It's just your Aunt Ginny." Hermione prompted. Sage looked uncertainly from Hermione to Ginny. "She's just a little older than in the pictures I showed you."

"I like Cinderella." Sage said quietly.

"Hmm… I don't think I know that one." Said Ginny.

Sage gasped in shock and scurried under the table to come up and sit next to Ginny. She started to reiterate the entire story to Ginny who listened very carefully to the story she had told to her own daughter at least a hundred times.

"She can talk when provoked." Hermione told the others nodding at Sage after listening to the girl for a minute.

They turned to watch Sage again. The girl was now rather animated in her story telling. She was making faces and throwing her hands about.

The adults were so engrossed in watching the girl that they didn't see Hermione's husband come up until she stood and kissed him.

"Malfoy?" Harry asked confused. "You married Malfoy?"

"He really isn't half as bad as he was in school. Being stuck together in hiding forces you to get along." Hermione shrugged. "We became friends, then fell in love, then got married."

"Nine months later we had the twins." Draco said.

"Twins?" Ginny asked. Sage had stopped her story when her father came.

"Twins." Hermione said. "You've all met Cassie. This is Nessa." Hermione pulled a girl identical to Cassie from behind Draco and pulled her up on the bench beside her.

"Then we had Scorpius, who is currently bothering Dumbledore." Draco said nodding toward the head table where Dumbledore sat talking to Professor McGonagall and a little blond boy of about six.

"By that point the house was beyond crowded as we had the three of them shoved in a tiny room." Hermione said. "When we had Sage we had to have the twins sleep in the living room."

"Then Hermione got pregnant again, and now we have Asher." Draco said pointing to the little boy asleep in his arms as he sat next to Nessa.

"Aw… can I hold him?" Ginny asked. Draco passed him across the table to Ginny.

"Asher's my baby brother." Sage said proudly to Ginny. "He's nineteen months old."

"And now you're having another one." Ron said surveying the Malfoy children.

"You two have been busy." Harry said lost in thought. After a moment he turned green.

"You and Ginny have three." Hermione reminded.

"You and Malfoy have five with another one on the way!" Ron said.

"But this is only my fifth pregnancy. And your parents had seven kids. We're only on our sixth." Hermione said.

"I still think that we should try to outnumber the Weasleys." Draco put in.

"Can we give my uterus two or three years to recover after this one?" Hermione asked.

"Fair enough." Draco said.

"You're outnumbering the Weasleys?" Dumbledore asked coming up on the group. "Now, should I expect the Malfoys in Gryffindor or Slytherin?"

"I think they'll be spread pretty evenly among all four houses." Hermione said. "I'd imagine that Cassie will be in Slytherin, but I don't think Nessa will be."

"Probably Ravenclaw for Nessa… Sage too." Draco said.

"What about me?" Scorpius asked climbing up to sit next to his father.

"I'm not sure about you yet." Draco said.

"But I want to know!" The little boy complained.

"Well, in five years the sorting hat will tell you." Hermione said.

"My guess is Hufflepuff." Dumbledore put in before he walked back to the head table and asked everyone to find a seat so the feast could begin.

Three hours later, Nessa and Cassie were sitting back to back asleep on the floor. Sage was using Nessa's lap as a pillow and Cassie was serving as one to Scorpius. James was stretched out on the floor close by with his sisters and cousin asleep on his stomach.

Hermione and Draco were swaying to a slow song. Hermione held Asher in her right arm while her left hand played with the hairs on the back of Draco's head. Draco had his arms around his wife's waist.

Harry and Ginny were dancing a short distance away. Ron was sitting on the bench with Lavender starting to dose off on his shoulder.

The song ended signaling the ending of the evening. Harry picked up James and Ginny took Lily. Ron picked up Rose and Lavender took Albus. The eight headed up toward Gryffindor tower.

"Now, how do we get our lot to bed?" Draco asked.

"Well, we'll have to wake up the twins." Hermione said.

Soon, Draco held Asher with Sage on his back, her hands clasped around his throat. Hermione had picked up Scorpius and each twin held hands with one parent. After a good fifteen minutes, the family finally arrived at the entrance to the Slytherin Common room.

"Amortentia." Draco said. The entrance was revealed. Draco led them down two flights of stairs to the dormitory they were staying in.

There were four beds in the room, so Draco had pushed two together on each side to make a bed for himself and Hermione, and one for four of their children to share. Hermione conjured a crib for Asher, and then helped Draco take the shoes off the other children.

She and Draco didn't even bother to get changed. They, like their children fell asleep completely dressed, but without shoes.

"We're finally free." Draco whispered into Hermione's hair. He kissed her forehead. "Starting tomorrow we can give our children the life we've always dreamed of giving them."


End file.
